Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to face Brian Vera on September 7th at 168 at Staples Center

By Boxing News - 07/12/2013 - Comments

chavez93By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) will be facing middleweight contender Brian Vera (23-6, 14 KO’s) in a fight at 168 lbs. on September 7th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, according to Steve Kim.

He’s reporting that the fight is done. Chavez Jr. isn’t done with the middleweight division, however. He’ll likely be facing Marco Antonio Rubio for the interim WBC middleweight title after the Vera fight, if Chavez Jr. successfully gets past Vera and if he can still make the 160 lb. weight class.

Beating Vera likely won’t be too much of a problem for Chavez Jr., but making 160 without being weight drained could be a problem for him. Chavez Jr. has put on a lot of weight since his loss to Sergio Martinez last September and it’s going to be tough as it is just to get back down to 168, let alone make his old weight at 160.

It’s probably a good time for Chavez Jr. to move up to 168 rather than continuing to drain tons of weight to fight at middleweight, but it’s pretty understandable why he would want to continue to fight at 160.

Chavez Jr. has a big weight advantage when he faces guys at that weight compared to at 168, and the middleweight division is a lot weaker in terms of talent than at 168. It would be tough for Chavez Jr. to find a spot at 168 where he could dominate like he was at 160, and without as much of a weight advantage, he could be just another contender. This is perhaps why we’ll see Chavez Jr. moving back down to 160 and working hard to stay in this division if he can.

Chavez Jr. might fight better at 168, and it’s possible he could find a spot if he shows more energy and he goes after one of the champions like Sakio Bika and Robert Stieglitz. Those wouldn’t be easy fights, but ht still it would be a better option than taking off weight to fight at 160.



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